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OF  CALIFORNIA 

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EXCERPTS 

FROM    THE    MANY   GOOD   WORDS    UTTERED 
IN    HONOR   OF 

Edwin  Booth 

At  the  Supper  given  on  Saturday  Night,  March  ^o,  i88g,  by 
AUGUSTIN  DALY  AND  A.  M.  PALMER. 


Printed  for  the  Players. 

New  York  i8Sq. 


TROW'8 

PRINTINQ  AND  BOOKBINOISS  COMPANY, 

NEW  YORK. 


A   NARRATIVE 

OF 

THE    EVENT. 

(Partly  from  a  report  printed  in  the  New  York  Times  of  April  i,  1889.) 


to 


The  table  fet  in  the  great  hall  at  Delmonico's 
on  Saturday  night  for  the  fupper   party  given  by 

"  Auguftin  Daly  and  Albert  M.  Palmer  in  honor  of 
Edwin  Booth  was  in  the  form  of  a  ftar.     At  each 

^   of  the  five  arms  were  feats  for  fifteen   gentlemen. 

If)  o 

^  At  the  apex  of  the  northern  arm  fat  Mr.  Booth, 
^  between  Mr.  Daly  and  Mr.  Palmer.  Near  them 
.  were  General  Sherman,  Lawrence  Barrett,  Hon. 
o  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  General  Horace  Porter,  W. 
'>  J.  Florence,  Conftant  Coquelln,  Thomas  Bailey 
'-^  Aldrich,  Horace  Howard  Furness,  wifeft  and  moft 
'..  amiable  of  Shakefpearean  fcholars  ;  George  H. 
;^  Boker,  the  Philadelphia  poet;  L.  Clarke  Davis, 
ex-Judge    Charles    P.    Daly,    Parke    Godwin,    and 


451. 


S.  L.  Clemens.  Among  the  adors  prefent,  befides 
thofe  already  named,  were  John  Gilbert,  Dion 
Boucicault,  George  Clarke,  John  Drew,  James 
Lewis,  John  A.  Lane,  Ben  G.  Rogers,  Louis 
Maffen,  Herbert  Kelcey,  E.  M.  Holland,  Alex- 
ander Salvini,  Jean  Coquelin,  Edward  Harrigan, 
Walden  Ramfey,  and  Harry  Edwards.  Among 
the  poets,  artifts,  and  men  of  letters  were  William 
Winter,  Edward  A.  Dithmar,  Appleton  Morgan, 
Edmund  Clarence  Stedman,  James  R.  Ofgood, 
Frank  Millett,  J.  S.  Hartley,  Auguftus  Saint  Gau- 
dens,  Judge  Jofeph  F.  Daly,  John  H.  V.  Arnold, 
Laurence  Hutton,  George  Parfons  Lathrop,  Bran- 
der  Matthews,  John  Foord,  Dr.  A.  Ruppaner, 
Stephen  H.  Olin,  Richard  Watfon  Gilder,  Daniel 
Frohman,  Edgar  Fawcett,  Brayton  Ives,  Stanford 
White,  James  A.  Mitchell,  Arthur  F.  Bowers, 
Marfhall  P.  Wilder,  Pierre  T.  Barlow ;  and  the 
Hon.  Thomas  L.  James,  Peter  Cooper  Hewitt, 
Eugene  Tompkins,  G.  S.  Bowdoin,  Marfhall  H. 
Mallory,  H.  C.  Jarrett,  Theo.  E.  Roefelle,  Will- 
iam Bifpham,  and  Hon.  W.  R.  Grace  were  alfo 
numbered  in  the  feventy-live. 

The  arms  of  the  ftar  radiated  from  a  circular 
mass  of  rofes,  and  flowers  in  rich  profufion  were 
banked  in  the  middle  of  each  of  the  five  branches 


of  the  table.  A  band  was  ftationed  In  the  balcony. 
The  fupper  began  at  midnight.  The  company  was 
good  and  the  feaft  as  excellent  as  Delmonico's 
kitchens  could  produce.  Many  admirable  fpeeches 
were  made,  efpecially  thofe  by  the  Hon.  Chauncey 
M.  Depew,  General  Sherman,  General  Porter,  Mr. 
Florence,  and  Lawrence  Barrett;  and  Mark  Twain 
difcourfed  on  the  "  Long  Clam." 

After  a  few  words  preliminary  to  propofing  Mr. 
Booth's  health — refponded  to  briefly  by  that  gentle- 
man— Mr.  Daly  refigned  the  chair  to  Mr.  Palmer, 
who  very  gracefully  introduced  the  fpeakers  of  the 
evening  with  a  witty  and  appropriate  compliment 
to  each.  The  guefts  did  not  difperfe  until  nearly 
five  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning. 

5 


A  LETTER 

BY 

GEORGE   WILLIAM    CURTIS. 


(Addressed  to  Mr.  Daly,  after  expressing  regret  at  his  inability  to  be  present.) 


Were  it  poffible  I  fhould  gladly  join  in 
the  tribute  of  honor  to  Mr.  Booth  perfonally,  and 
to  the  ancient  fraternity  of  which  he  is  fo  eminent 
a  member. 

I  once  heard  Mrs.  Fanny  Kemble  fay  in  a  diftin- 
guifhed  company,  with  melodious  intonation,  and  a 
dignity  and  pride  which  well  became  the  niece  of 
Mrs.  Siddons  and  John  Kemble:  "  I  belong  to  her 
Majefly's  players." 

In  another  fenfe  who  of  us  cannot  fay  it  ?  For 
their  genius,  their  fkili,  their  magic  enchant  us  all, 
and  as  captives  and  thralls  we  too  belong  to  the 
players.  When  Sir  Peter  Teafle  and  Squire  Hard- 
caftle   felicitoufly   interchange   we   belong   to   John 

7 


Gilbert.  As  our  hearts  melt  in  the  pathetic  human- 
ity of  Rip  Van  Winkle  we  are  our  own  no  longer, 
we  are  all  Jefferfon's.  When  Katherlne  yields  to 
Petruchio  we  furrender  to  Ada  Rehan.  When 
Hamlet 

"  The  expectancy  and  rose  of  the  fair  state," 

fills  the  great  fcene  with  melancholy  fplendor  we 
are  held  fail  and  poflefTed  by  Edwin  Booth.  The 
players  have  all  much  more  multitudinous  belong- 
ings than  they  fufped;,  and  never  captives  marched 
with  fo  willing  and  fo  charmed  a  loyalty  as  theirs. 

Over  your  hofpitable  table  I  fhould  like  to  tell 
them  fo  in  more  words,  but  I  could  not  fay  it  with 
greater  fincerity  than  in  this  note ;  and  with  my 
hearty  homage  to  your  famous  gueft  and  your 
brilliant  company,  I  am  very  truly,  etc. 

8 


A  SALUTE 


M.    CONSTANT   COOUELIN. 


MoN  CHER  Monsieur  Booth — Depuis  le  jour 
ou  vous  avez  debute,  vous  avez  ete  proclame,  et 
vous  etes  refte,  le  premier,  le  grand  artifle  tragique 
de  votre  pays.  On  n'arrive  pas  a  rimmenfe  fitua- 
tion  que  vous  vous  y  etes  faite  Tans  I'avoir  meritee. 
Vous  avez  eu  le  bonheur  de  n'etre  pas  difcute, 
meme  en  reftant  indifcutable.  Les  hivers  ont  paffe 
fur  vous  fans  vous  toucher,  et  votre  reputation  a 
garde  la  fraicheur  d'un  jour  de  printemps.  Ce 
foir,  mon  fils  et  moi,  nous  nous  faifons  un  peu 
I'efFet  de  deux  fauvages,  puifque  feuls  peut-etre  en 
Amerique,  nous  n'avons  pas  eu  I'honneur  de  vous 
entendre ;  mais  nous  favons  fort  bien  ce  que  vous 
valez ;  nous  favons  que  vous  etes  un  artiile  d'une 
qualite  eflentiellement  fuperieure;  un  artiile  qui  a 

9 


trouve  la  haute  exprefTion  de  la  pocfie  ineffable 
fans  faire  ii  de  la  belle  rcalite ;  nous  favons  aufli 
que  vous  etes  un  grand  efprit  et  un  grand  coeur, 
que  vous  I'avez  magnifiquement  prouve.  Je  re- 
mercie  mon  ami  Daly  et  le  cher  M.  Palmer  de  nous 
avoir  invites,  afin  que  nous  puifTions  nous  incliner 
devant  vous  avec  tous  les  refpeds  qui  vous  sont 
dus,  au  milieu  de  vos  meilleurs  amis,  et  parmi  ceux 
qui  doivent  favoir  le  mieux  vous  admirer. 


AN  ADDRESS 

BY 

STEPHEN    HENRY   OLIN. 


(In  response  to  a  call  from  the  Chairman,  Mr.  A.  M.  Palmer.) 


When  I  heard  you  begin  a  moment  ago,  Mr. 
Chairman,  the  lift  of  "  foremoft  men "  who  fit 
about  this  table,  I  fuppofed  myfelf — the  leaft  and 
laft  of  the  Players'  Board  of  Managers,  for  a  long 
time  fafe  from  notice.  But  I  am  very  ready  to 
fpeak  to  the  toaft  which  you  give,  becaufe,  warm  as 
are  the  feelings  of  efteem  and  admiration  for  Edwin 
Booth  which  we  fhare  with  his  fellow  men,  warmer 
ftill  for  moft  of  us  here  to-night  is  the  gratitude  pro- 
voked by  his  great  gift,  a  gift  which  brings  to  each 
of  us  prefent  advantage  and  thofe  favors  to  come 
to  which  gratitude  is  faid  to  be  moft  fenfitive. 

In  the  life  of  the  modern  man,  the  club  counts 
for  much;  and  in  clubs  of  the  older  faftiion — before 


the  ideal  was  a  nodurnal  ftock  exchange  or  a  peren- 
nial caucus — betore  wits  had  begun  to  hoard  all 
their  jefts  for  the  weekly  papers  and  when  wife 
men  had  wifdom  for  their  friends  as  well  as  for 
the  magazines,  in  fuch  clubs  the  adlor  counted  for 
much.  We  find  him  in  the  coffee-houfes,  which 
were  clubs  in  embryo ;  and  in  that  bright  com- 
pany which  at  the  Mitre  Tavern  formed  what  was 
then  and  is  ftill  known  as  The  Club,  the  ador 
was  confpicuous. 

There  were  men  whom  the  world  is  not  yet 
weary  of  regarding.  Sir  Jofhua  Reynolds  and 
Oliver  Goldfmith,  models  ftill  for  artifts  and  men 
of  letters ;  Sheridan,  wit  and  manager  and  poli- 
tician ;  General  Oglethorpe,  who  had  learned  the 
art  of  war  under  Prince  Eugene,  and  whofe  distinc- 
tion it  was  to  found  the  colony  of  Georgia  and  thus 
fct  the  ftage  on  which  an  even  greater  foldier  fhould 
appear;  Johnfon  and  Bofwell,  whofe  united  efforts 
produced  that  "Tour  in  the  Hebrides,"  which  took 
the  place  filled  in  our  more  fortunate  time  by  "The 
Innocents  Abroad." 

It  might  occupy  philofophers  or  fchoolboys  to 
decide  which  of  thefe  men  deferved  beft  of  man- 
kind, but  certainly  not  the  leaft  picturefque  and 
diftinguifhed    figure    was    the    accomplifiied    ador 


whofe  death  was  to  "  eclipfe  the  gayety  of  nations," 
and  who  alone  among  that  brilliant  company  became 
the  namefake  of  a  great  modern  club. 

It  is  not  without  reafon  that  we  confidently  hope 
for  the  fuccess  of  our  Players'  Club. 

We  all  fhare  the  bright  expectations  formed  by 
your  honored  gueft  for  the  future  of  the  inftitution 
of  which  he  may  well  be  called  the  founder.  We 
fee  a  library  which  fhall  contain  the  dramas  of  every 
tongue  and  the  criticifm  of  every  time,  and  where, 
as  the  years  go  on,  fhall  be  carefully  gathered  the 
hiftory  of  the  ftage  and  the  biography  of  thofe  who 
belong  to  it ;  and,  as  well,  the  anecdotes,  the  jefts, 
the  unconfidered  trifles  of  the  player's  life.  "We  fee 
a  mufeum  in  which  fhall  be  ftored  the  pidures  of 
plays  and  the  portraits  of  the  men  and  women  who 
win  renown  in  their  performance,  and  we  fee  this 
library  and  mufeum  not  fet  apart  for  the  occafional 
ufe  of  the  fludious,  but  brought  into  the  ador's 
daily  life,  made  the  home  alike  of  the  veteran  of 
the  ftage  and  the  ambitious  recruit.  We  fee  the 
refining  influence  of  art  and  literature  aided  by  the 
flimulus  of  example,  the  power  of  tradition,  and 
the  encouragement  of  chofen  friendships  and  affocia- 
tions.  All  this,  we  believe,  will  make  for  the  lafling 
good  of  American   dramatic   art — of  that  prudifh 

13 


Anglo-Saxon  art  which  cares  for  the  Beautiful  and 
the  True,  but  cares  for  the  Good  as  well.  In  that 
houfe  fliall  be  virtue,  and  there  fhall  alfo  be  abun- 
dant cakes  and  ale. 

This  profpect  is  plain  before  us  all,  but  there  are 
other  things  in  the  future  of  this  foundation  which 
we  fee  better  than  does  its  founder.  It  will  per- 
petuate his  fame,  not  as  a  monument  guards  a 
buried  treafure,  but  as  a  living  organifm  preferves 
what  it  holds  dear. 

The  ftage  is  the  only  form  of  art  which  among 
Englifh  fpeaking  men  has  a  permanent  hierarchy. 
In  painting,  fculpture,  mufic,  architecture,  poetry, 
one  great  man  fucceeds  another  to  whom  he  owes 
little  or  nothing;  one  fchool  is  followed  by  another 
differing  and  divergent.  But  it  happened  that  when 
the  Englifh  language  was  yet  young,  while  it  was 
pent  within  the  limits  of  a  little  ifland,  when  it  had 
gathered  up  its  mighty  forces  but  had  not  yet  begun 
to  fpend  them  over  all  the  earth,  it  was  touched  by 
the  wand  of  a  great  enchanter.  All  at  once,  per- 
fedl  and  complete,  the  Englifh  drama  came  to 
life.  Some  greater  genius  may,  perhaps,  hereafter 
live,  but  he  can  no  more  rival  Shakefpeare  than 
the  prophet  of  an  Eaftern  tribe  can  now  difplace 
Mohammed  between  heaven   and  all  the  fcattered 


peoples  of  Iflam.  To  the  end  of  time  when 
anyone  fhall  fay  "  Great  is  the  Englifh  drama," 
he  will  reverently  add  "  And  Shakefpeare  is  its 
prophet." 

The  dramatift,  unlike  other  artifts,  does  not  ad- 
dress dired:ly  thofe  whom  he  would  affect,  and  fo  it 
has  come  to  pass  that  men  gain  fame  and  fortune 
becaufe  they,  better  than  their  fellows,  can  fpeak  the 
words  of  the  great  mafter,  can  make  his  creations 
move  again  upon  the  ftage,  can  in  his  name  touch 
thofe  fibres  of  our  Anglo-Saxon  nature  which  in 
fome  fort  he  created,  and  which  vibrate  moft  ftrongly 
at  his  call. 

There  are  ftudents  of  hiftory  here  to-night  who 
can  name  the  chiefs  of  this  honored  priefthood  as 
they  ftretch  back  in  unbroken  fucceffion,  in  con- 
tinuity of  tradition  and  teaching,  to  the  men  who 
ftudied  their  partitions  In  Shakefpeare's  crabbed 
handwriting.  It  is  not  for  me  to  point  out  how 
clear  has  been  the  title  of  Edwin  Booth  to  this 
primacy,  fince  it  came  to  him  from  his  father's 
hand ;  but  I  can  fay  that  it  is  well  that  his  fame 
fliould  be  not  only  left  to  his  countrymen,  but  par- 
ticularly in  the  keeping  of  an  ever  renewed  com- 
pany of  his  friends.  For  years,  for  generations 
perhaps  more  numerous  than  we  venture  to  im- 


agine,  will  glow  at  the  mention  of  his  name  the 
fympathy  and  affedion  which  on  New  Year's  eve 
burned  up  fo  brightly  around  the  newly-lighted 
hearth  of  the  Players. 

i6 


A  TRIBUTE 


WILLIAM   WINTER. 


(Delivered  at  the  supper  of  March  30th,  and  printed  in  the  Tribune,  April  7th.) 


It  was  my  fortune,  many  years  ago,  to  be  prefent 
in  the  old  Bofton  Theatre  on  a  night  when  that 
famous  American  ador  Edwin  Forreft,  at  the  clofe 
of  an  exceedingly  brilliant  engagement,  reprefented 
Hamlet  and  delivered  a  farewell  address.  I  can  fee 
him  now,  as  I  faw  him  then — not  the  moft  intel- 
ledual  nor  the  moft  brilliant  figure  in  our  theatrical 
hiftory,  but  certainly  the  moft  coloffal,  the  moft  im- 
pofing,  the  moft  definite,  impreftive,  infpired  animal 
individuality  that  ever  has  been  feen  upon  the 
American  ftage ;  and  I  can  hear  his  voice  as  I  then 
heard  it,  when,  as  he  gazed  around  upon  a  vaft 
aflemblage  of  the  public  and  upon  the   ftage   that 

17 


\ 


was  literally  covered  with  flowers,  he  faid — in  thofe 
magnificent,  vibrating,  organ  tones  of  his,  which 
never  in  our  day  have  been  equalled  or  approached — 
"  Here,  indeed,  is  a  miracle  of  culture — a  wilder- 
ness of  rofes,  and  not  a  fingle  thorn  !  "  To-night 
it  is  my  fortune  to  be  prefent  at  this  memorable 
feaft  of  tribute  to  genius  and  virtue,  and  to  behold 
his  great  and  famous  fucceflbr  in  the  leaderfhip  of 
tragic  art  in  America,  furrounded  by  friends  who 
greet  him  with  affection  no  less  than  homage,  and 
who  honor  themfelves  rather  than  him  by  every 
denotement  of  refped:  and  appreciation  they  poflibly 
can  give  to  Edwin  Booth  :  and  I  can  imagine  that 
he  alfo,  looking  upon  your  eager,  happy,  affection- 
ate faces,  and  liftening  to  your  genial  eloquence — 
in  this  fcene  of  light  and  perfume  and  joy,  of  high 
thought  and  fweetly  ferious  feeling  and  gentle 
mirth — may  utter  the  fame  exclamation  of  grateful 
pride — "  Here,  indeed,  is  a  miracle  of  culture — a 
wilderness  of  rofes,  and  not  a  fingle  thorn  !  " 

For  if  a  man  eminent  in  public  life  and  illuftrious 
in  the  realm  of  art  may  not  indulge  a  fentiment  of 
honeft  pride  and  grateful  exultation  at  fuch  a  mo- 
ment as  this  I  know  not  when  he  may  indulge  it. 
Honors  are  fometimes  given  where  they  are  not 
due  ;   but  in  thofe  cafes  although  they  are  accepted 

i8 


they  are  not  enjoyed.  In  the  prefent  inftance  they 
flow  as  naturally  and  as  rightly  to  the  object  of  our 
efl:eem  as  rivers  flow  to  the  Tea.  Edwin  Booth 
adopted  the  profeflion  of  the  flage  when  he  was  in 
his  fixteenth  year  and  he  has  been  adlor  clofe  on 
forty  years.  Looking  back  upon  that  long  career 
of  ambitious  and  noble  labor  and  achievement  I 
think  he  mufl;  be  confcious — I  know  that  we  who 
have  obferved  and  fl:udied  it  are  confcious — that 
he  has  been  animated  in  every  minute  of  it  by 
the  paflionate  defire,  not  to  magnify  and  glorify 
himfelf,  but,  through  the  minifl;ration  of  a  great 
and  beautiful  art,  to  fliimulate  the  advancement  of 
others,  to  increase  the  fl:ock  of  harmless  pleafure, 
to  make  the  world  happier  and  nobler,  and  to  leave 
the  fl:age  a  better  infl:itution  than  it  was  when  he 
found  it.  Speaking  with  reference  to  adors  in 
general  it  might  perhaps  juflily  be  faid  that  it  is  the 
infirmity  of  each  one  of  them  to  confider  himfelf  as 
the  centre  of  a  folar  fyfliem  around  which  everything 
elfe  in  the  creation  revolves.  Not  fo  with  the  gueft 
of  this  occafion,  the  hero  of  this  feflial  hour — the 
favorite  of  our  fancy  and  the  comrade  of  our  love  ! 
For  he  **  has  borne  his  faculties  fo  meek,  has  been 
fo  clear  in  his  great  office,"  that  whether  on  the 
golden  fummits  of  profperity  or  in  the  valley  of  the 

19 


fhadow  of  loss  and  forrow  his  gentle  humility  of 
difpofition,  his  fimple  fidelity  to  duty,  his  folid 
fincerity  of  felf-facrificing  character,  and  his  abfo- 
lutely  guileless  and  blameless  condudt  of  life  have 
been  equally  confpicuous  with  his  fupreme  dramatic 
genius,  his  artiftic  zeal  and  his  glittering  renown. 
Edwin  Booth's  fame  is  aflured,  and  I  think  it  ftands 
now  at  its  height ;  and  no  artiftic  fame  of  our  gen- 
eration can  be  accounted  brighter ;  but  to  my  mind 
the  crowning  glory  of  it  is  the  plain  fa.6t  that  an 
occafion  like  this — reprefentative  to  him  of  the  uni- 
verfal  fentiment  and  acclamation  of  his  time — is 
simply  the  fpontaneous  acknowledgment  that  grate- 
ful finceritv  awards  to  genuine  worth.  My  words 
about  him,  on  another  feftival  occafion  in  this  fame 
place  may  fitly  be  repeated  now : 

Though  skies  might  gloom  and  tempests  rave, 

Though  friends  and  hopes  might  fall, 
His  constant  spirit  simply  brave 

Would  meet  and  suffer  all — 
Would  calmly  smile  at  fortune's  frown, 

Supreme  o'er  gain  or  loss  : 
And  he  the  worthiest  wears  the  crown 

That  gently  bore  the  cross ! 

It  was  not  to  tell  Edwin  Booth  that  he  is  a  great 
aftor,  and  it  was  not  to  tell  him  that  he  is  dear  to 


the  hearts  of  his  friends,  that  this  afTemblage  has 
been  convened.  The  burning  of  incenfe  is  a  de- 
lightful and  often  a  righteous  occupation,  and  of  all 
the  duties  that  your  Shakefpeare  has  taught  there  is 
no  one  that  he  urges  with  more  ftrenuous  ardor 
than  that  of  whole-hearted  admiration  for  every- 
thing that  is  noble  and  lovely  in  human  nature  and 
condud:.  Him  at  leaft  you  never  find  niggard  and 
reticent  in  his  praife.  But,  as  I  apprehend  it,  the 
motive  of  this  occalion  was  the  defire  to  express, 
for  our  own  fake,  our  fenfe  of  obligation  to  Edwin 
Booth  for  the  leflbn  of  his  life.  As  the  years  drift 
away,  as  the  fhadows  begin  to  Hope  to  the  eaflward, 
the  firft  faint  mifts  mingle  w^th  the  light  of  the 
{inking  fun,  nothing  imprefles  me  fo  much  as  the 
imperative  need  that  we  fhould  preferve  the  illufions 
of  a  youthful  fpirit  and  look  upon  this  world  not 
in  the  cold  and  barren  light  of  fact  but  through  the 
golden  haze  of  the  imagination  and  the  genial  feel- 
ings. To  fome  men  and  women  it  is  granted  that 
they  can  diffufe  this  radiant  glamour  of  ideal  charm. 
Like  a  delicate  perfume  that  suddenly  comes  upon 
you  from  a  withered  rofe,  or  a  bit  of  ribbon,  or  a 
tress  of  hair,  long  hallowed  and  long  preferved ; 
like  a  faint,  far-off  ftrain  of  mufic  that  floats  on  a 
fummer  breeze  across  the  moonlit  fea,  they  touch 


'-Jk.  i-S  _s_  r^  O '-  fr 


the  fpirit  with  a  fenfe  of  the  beauty  and  glory,  the 
myftery  and  the  pathos  of  our  exiflence,  and  we  are 
lifted  up  and  hallowed  and  ftrengthened,  and  all 
that  is  bitter  in  our  experience  and  fordid  in  our 
furroundings  is  foothed  and  fweetened  and  glorified. 
They  teach  us  hope  and  belief,  inftead  of  doubt  and 
defpondency  ;  and  thus,  in  a  world  of  trouble  and 
forrow,  giving  to  us  the  human  patience  and  the 
fpiritual  nobility  which  more  than  anything  elfe  we 
need,  they 

"  Shed  a  something  of  celestial  light 
Round  the  familiar  face  of  every  day." 

It  Is  becaufe  Edwin  Booth  has  been  in  this  way  a 
bleffing  to  his  generation  that  we  are  met  to  thank 
him  ;  and  furthermore  it  is  becaufe  in  a  period  that 
greatly  requires  nobility  of  pradical  example  he  is 
a  vital  and  influential  and  conclufive  proof  that  an 
a(5lor  mav  know  and  may  fulfil  his  duty  to  his  time. 
What  that  duty  is  you  will  not  expect  any  fpeaker 
here  to  defcribe.  I  will  but  afk  you  to  recall  what 
the  American  ftage  was  when  he  came  upon  it  thirty 
years  ago,  and  to  confider  what  it  is  now  and  to 
whofe  influence  mainly  its  advancement  is  due. 
And  I  will  but  add  that  when  you  fliand  beneath 
the  ftupendous  majefl:y  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  and 


look  upon  the  marble  which  commemorates  its 
great  architect  you  may  read  one  fentence  that  is 
the  perfe(5t  flower  of  fimplicity  and  eloquence — "  If 
you    would    behold    his    monument,   look    around 


you  ! 


23 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
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REC' 


LD-URIi 


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REC'DID. 

QL  APR    ^ 


1  0  1967 


f\UG  2  51986 


•      <  .  Ml        *  . 


i9iMrr 


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